Finance
Euro zone consumers up 5-year inflation forecast to record high, ECB poll shows
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 30, 2026
2 min readLast updated: January 30, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 30, 2026
2 min readLast updated: January 30, 2026
Euro zone consumers expect inflation to rise to 2.4% over five years, a record high, according to an ECB survey. This impacts ECB policy considerations.
FRANKFURT, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Euro zone consumers raised their longer-term inflation expectations to a record high in December, a European Central Bank poll showed on Friday, implying prices were seen growing faster than the ECB's target pace for years to come.
ECB President Christine Lagarde and colleagues have been saying for months the central bank for the euro zone is "in a good place" after seeing inflation fall to its 2% target, and market expectations remain largely anchored around that level.
But the ECB's latest Consumer Expectations Survey showed households had nudged up their inflation expectations five years ahead to 2.4% in December, the highest reading since the survey began in 2022 and a 20-basis-point increase from November.
The median respondent saw inflation at 2.8% over the next 12 months, unchanged from November, and at 2.6% in three years' time, up from 2.5% a month earlier.
Still, ECB policymakers, who use these findings in their policy deliberations, could take comfort in the fact that consumers still expected inflation to come down over the poll's time horizon.
The ECB is expected to hold its policy rate unchanged at 2% for the foreseeable future, but uncertainty relating, among other factors, to U.S. President Donald Trump's unpredictable economic policy has kept investors and policymakers on tenterhooks.
(Reporting by Francesco CanepaEditing by Peter Graff)
The article discusses the rise in long-term inflation expectations in the Euro zone as shown by an ECB survey.
The ECB uses these inflation expectations in policy deliberations, potentially impacting future rate decisions.
Inflation is predicted to be 2.8% over the next 12 months and 2.6% in three years.
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